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Savage Opress
'Savage Opress '''was a powerful Dathomirian Zabrak who was a feared dark side user during the Clone Wars. Biography Early Life Savage Opress was born on the planet of Dathomir. He was a son of the Nightsister Kycina. Savage also had two younger brothers, Maul and Feral.''Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter During infancy, and Maul underwent rituals''Restraint'' who were subservient only to the Nightsisters. For their initiation as Nightbrothers, Kycina submerged them both in an oily bath energized with ichor from her Nightsister magic, ceremoniously giving them the Nightbrother tattoos that they would wear for the rest of their lives.Restraint However, Opress never learned of his relationship to Maul or even of his existence until years later'' '' due to the actions of his mother, who hoped that Maul would grow up free from servitude to Mother Talzin and her Nightsisters.Restraint Kycina concealed Maul's existence from Talzin and secretly gave him away at Dathomir's Blue Desert City before he was 1 year old,Restraint Opress thus grew up only knowing'' '' Feral, whom he vowed to watch over in the Nightbrothers' dangerous way of life. Nightbrother of Dathomir Initially part of the same clan, Feral and Opress grew up in the Nightbrothers' village in an isolated region of Dathomir,Restraint which was headed by Brother Viscus. Nightsisters often came to the village for the Selection, a ritual series of tests in which the witches claimed servants and mates from the Nightbrothers' nine formidable tribal heads, with death awaiting those who failed the challenges. Because the Nightsisters made periodic,Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Incredible Vehicles unpredictable visits to their village, Opress and his brethren were forced to stay in fierce fighting shape. Opress often sparred with Feral in his free time, and he learned much about cruelty in his early life. All too aware of the threat of the Nightsisters,Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Incredible Vehicles he did his best to protect his younger brother from the witches.Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Incredible Vehicles By the time of the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, both Opress and Feral became tribal heads within the Nightbrother village. Opress gained credit as a fierce yet compassionate warrior, though his life was to soon intertwine with the very essence of the dark side of the Force. Clone Wars Selection & Transformation Opress resided with the Nightbrothers on Dathomir, remaining relatively unaffected by the Clone Wars. Around 21 BBY, the second year of the war,Star Wars Annual 2011 the Nightbrothers became host to Asajj Ventress, a powerful Nightsister in search of a servant from the nightbrothers. Formerly a CIS-allied Dark Acolyte/commander for the Order of the Sith Lords, Ventress had recently been betrayed by her Master, Count Dooku, ' and she now sought to acquire an adept servant for a plot to gain revenge on her ex-Master. Ventress arrived at the Nightbrothers' village aboard an Ubrikkian speeder just as Opress was sparring there with Feral. When brought forward by Viscus alongside the other tribal heads for Ventress's inspection, Opress warned Feral against drawing attention to himself, hoping that neither of them would be subjected to the Nightsister's tests. Nevertheless, both brothers were among the six clan leaders who were deemed fit as candidates for the Selection, to Opress's dismay. Opress, Feral, and the other four tribal leaders proceeded to the nearby combat arena known as the Crucible''Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side for Ventress's trials. In the first trial, the Test of Fury,Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side Opress, Feral, and their comrades were to face Ventress herself in armed combat. Fighting with a curved dagger, Opress was initially Force-pushed against the combat field's railing by Ventress, who also countered the other warriors' moves with considerable ease. Recovering and rejoining the fight, Opress approached the Nightsister, avoiding several spears that she threw at him. When she targeted Feral, Opress abandoned his dagger and quickly came to his younger brother's aid, though their brief distraction was enough for the unimpressed Nightsister to knock them to the ground. As night fell, Opress, Feral, and the only two other remaining Nightbrothers graduated to the next round, in which the four warriors were to confront Ventress without the light of the Crucible's torches as part of the Test of Night.Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side The two other Zabrak warriors fell to Ventress's deadly chain-sickle in quick succession, but Opress managed to pinpoint Ventress's third strike in time to pull himself and Feral out of harm's way. Quickly bringing his dagger up in the direction of the Nightsister, Opress ordered her to show herself, earning a portion of Ventress's respect. Now the only two surviving contenders in the Selection, Opress and Feral were faced with the third and final challenge: once more fighting Ventress, but now amidst the Crucible's moving pillars of stone brought forth from the ground in what was known as the Test of Elevation.Star Wars: The Wrath of Darth Maul Opress tried his best to stay close to Feral and evade Ventress amidst the Crucible's added dimension, but Feral soon lost his footing on one of the platforms and fell to the ground. When Opress found his brother, Feral was at the mercy of Ventress, who was preparing to kill the winded contestant with a Force-choke. Intervening on his brother's behalf, Opress lashed out at Ventress and bodily threw her against an adjacent pillar. Placing himself between Ventress and the weakened Feral, Opress fended off the Nightsister's attacks, refusing to let harm come to his brother. He ultimately requested that the Nightsister spare his brother and instead take him as her servant. After Feral reluctantly obeyed her order to leave them, Ventress continued her fight with Opress in hand-to-hand combat. During his subsequent battle with Ventress, Opress drew upon his rage on several occasions and attempted to use his brute strength to fatally wound her in the head. However, it was Opress who took a beating, and he finally surrendered his life and pledged his allegiance to the Nightsister when triumphed over. Nevertheless impressed by Opress's combat style and fighting prowess in spite of his defeat, Ventress took her newly acquired servant and mate away from his village the next morning aboard her Ubrikkian speeder. Opress spared Feral, who remained behind with the other Nightbrothers, a glance of farewell before leaving with Ventress. Crossing much of Dathomir to reach the Nightsisters village, Opress was brought to Mother Talzin, who served as both the leader and shaman of Ventress's coven.Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side After examining Opress and sensing the hate and power coursing through his veins , Talzin touched her finger to his forehead to put him into an enchanted sleep and had the Nightbrother brought to the altar known as the Font.Restraint In an ancient ceremony that was heavily rooted in the dark side, Talzin and a full coven of her nightsisterss bound together, channeling spirit ichor and the rawest hatred to make Opress an avatar of primal anger''Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side'' for Ventress's plot for vengeance over Dooku. Subjected to the dark magicks of the Fanged God,Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side Opress was granted greater height and size, a full crown of vestigial horns, and fearsome power:Star Wars: The Clone Wars Magazine 2 he gained even more brutality, an unmatched ferocity, and heightened physical potential and Force abilities.Star Wars: The Clone Wars Magazine 2 In addition, the Nightsisters placed him under their control so that Ventress could control him. Although the Nightsisters' sorcery allowed them to invoke Opress's spell of loyalty at any time, Talzin, being an expert of Nightsister magic,Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side''secretly ensured that he would ultimately remain loyal only to her. Now a monstrous, honor-lacking warrior whose sole purpose was to kill all those in his path, Opress's first instinctive act when awoken was to choke Ventress with his bare hands . After obeying her command to release her, Opress was presented with a final test to prove his loyalty to her. Feral, who had been taken prisoner by the Nightsisters following the Selection, was brought forward, and Opress was ordered to kill his brother. For all the care and protection that he had afforded Feral up unto that point, Opress strangled his brother in a single stroke in a monstrous display of cruelty, deriding Feral's pleas for mercy . Thus assured of her agent's allegiance, Ventress gave Opress a short first lesson in the practice of the dark side—to draw power from hate and never sympathize with the enemy, beginning what was to be an abusive method of teaching for the Nightbrother. '' For weaponry, Talzin conjured an enchanted blade for Opress , who also employed his newly granted bulk to heft an entire suit of full-body plate armor,Star Wars: The Clone Wars Magazine 4 including the cuffs and shoulder armor reserved for those who had survived the Crucible.Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side Apprentice to the Sith Bestowed with the power of the Nightsisters, his life committed to the dark side, Opress was to be gifted to Count Dooku, becoming a Dark Acolyte for Dooku's Confederacy and replacing Ventress herself as Dooku's personal assassin. When the time was right, Ventress would unleash her warrior against her former Master, seeking his death for his betrayal during the Battle of Sullust. Talzin and two of her Nightsisters escorted Opress aboard a captured [[Sheathipede-class transport shuttle|''Sheathipede-class transport shuttle]] to Dooku's homeworld of Serenno, where the Count maintained a palace residence. Upon being introduced by Talzin to Dooku , Opress bowed to his new Master as a gesture of loyalty, though the Nightsisters' sorcery would ensure that this allegiance would not be permanent. As Dooku required proof of his warrior abilities before any training could commence, Opress was sent on his first assignment: to seize control of the Temple of Eedit, serving as a republic base on the jungle planet Devaron for the Separatists. The base's capture would would enable the Confederacy to conquer that area of the galaxy. Dispatched alone to the Devaron system aboard Dooku's personal ''Punworcca 116''-class interstellar sloop, complete with an FA-4 pilot droid, Opress proceeded to the Temple of Eedit, where a battle for control of the outpost was already raging between the Republic and the Confederacy. Battle at the Temple of Eedit Upon landing on the path leading to the temple, Opress pushed through the B1 and B2 infantry droids of the Separatist Droid Army, focusing only on the defenders of the temple: a clone trooper detachment from the Republic army led by Jedi General Halsey and Commander Knox. Wielding his enchanted axe-blade, Opress smashed his way through the clone troopers, his blade cutting through their armor to lethal effect. After all of the troops had been eliminated—including the unit's leader, Clone Commander Trauma—Opress was left only with Halsey and Knox, who had in the meantime destroyed the remainder of the battle droids. Intent upon challenging the Jedi, Opress disarmed Halsey of his lightsaber before engaging the Jedi Master in combat. Although the diminutive Halsey initially used his formidable agility to great effect , Opress battered him to the ground and killed him with a stab through the chest. Knox soon followed his Master into death, being speared on the end of Opress's blade when he attacked the Nightbrother. With all droids, Jedi, and clones slaughtered, Opress approached the Temple of Eedit alone and reported his success to Dooku via holoconnection. Impressed by the work of his new acolyte, Dooku had Opress return to Serenno at once. Opress's performance on Devaron earned him praise from Dooku, who formally took the Nightbrother agent as his apprentice . Besides intending to train Opress to the level of the revered Darth Maul, Dooku envisioned using his new apprentice to overthrow his own Sith Master, Darth Sidious, in accordance with the Sith's Rule of Two doctrine. With Sidious defeated, Dooku and Opress would claim control of the galaxy in the name of the Sith. Mission to Fondor In his new capacity as Dooku's apprentice, Opress embarked on another assignment for his Master as part of a Sith plot regarding the Republic's Fondor Shipyards. Entrusted with Dooku's solar sailer, Opress was given instructions for his mission on a datadisc and traveled to the planet Affa. There, he was to confront the Hutt merchant Noggox, an industrialist independent of the Hutt Council who sponsored Republic business, but was content to watch the war between the Republic and the Confederacy from a distance. As two of his Republic-allied freighters had recently been raided by the pirate Dool Pundar en route to Fondor Shipyards,Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Strange Allies Noggox had enlisted the help of a Jedi Commander named Nuru Kungurama, who claimed that the pirates were being backed by the Confederacy and had been dispatched by the Jedi Council to escort Noggox's other freighters to Fondor.Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Opress Unleashed Sent to remove Noggox from action before Kungurama could reach Affa, Opress landed at the main hangar of Noggox's fortress, where he allowed himself to be captured and deprived of his axe-blade by the Hutt's bodyguards. Brought directly to Noggox in chains for questioning , Opress warned the merchant that a Jedi was approaching, though the Hutt mistook his words to mean that the Jedi posed a danger. Opress instead revealed his ties to Dooku, and his awareness of Noggox's request for the Jedi's help, before breaking free of his shackles and reclaiming his axe-blade . After killing Noggox and the entirety of his bodyguard entourage, Opress made his way back to the solar sailer to announce his success to Dooku. Although Opress wished to remain on Affa so that he could confront the jedi, Dooku ordered him to immediately return to Serenno. Reluctantly obeying his Master, Opress departed from Affa, leaving the victims of his massacre behind for discovery by Kungurama and his clone trooper squad. Having become brutally adept in the use of his enchanted halberd, Opress upgraded his preferred choice of combat weaponry to a double-bladed lightsaber, for which he received training from Dooku. In the throne room of the Count's palace, Opress engaged in a practice session of lightsaber combat with Dooku, a highly accomplished swordsman who owed his reputation to his previously abandoned career as a Jedi Master.Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force In his first sparring session with Dooku, Opress was the first to attack, swinging his lightsaber at Dooku with powerful strikes. However, his Master easily avoided his assaults, and Opress was disarmed of his lightsaber and briefly Force-choked. Dooku then brought both his and Opress's lightsabers around his apprentice's throat, ending the duel. Although Opress lacked technique with wielding a lightsaber, Dooku sought to hone his student's natural ability in combat, with training that would draw upon the Nightbrother's strong feelings of hate. Opress's Sith training continued, and his next lesson took place outside on the palace grounds with his Master. After witnessing a demonstration of the power of the Force by Dooku, who simultaneously raised a number of heavy stone pillars, Opress was tasked with accomplishing the same feat. Reaching out with the Force, Opress was initially able to lift only a few of the pillars to a meager height, and he deemed the assignment impossible. Drawing upon his apprentice's hate, even hatred for his own Master, Dooku blasted him with Force lightning until Opress gained a crude proficiency of the Force and was able to lift the blocks a greater distance. Although Opress questioned how one could defend against Force lightning, Dooku withheld the method of resistance from Opress to avoid making his Sith apprentice too powerful, promising to reveal such secrets in due time. Breakaway from servitude Having completed the initial stages of his Sith training, Opress was sent on his next assignment as Dooku's apprentice: to capture King Katuunko of Toydaria alive. Dooku sought to force the Republic-allied monarch into siding with the Separatists after turning him down. Opress traveled to Katuunko's palace on Toydaria aboard Dooku's solar sailer, proceeding to the surface of Toydaria unchallenged thanks to the lack of naval forces defending the Republic world. Upon touching down at the palace's landing platform, Opress swiftly defeated the Toydarian royal guards who came to confront him, slaying two of them with his lightsaber and Force-choking a third guard. Opress continued into the palace unopposed, cutting through the main entrance door and effortlessly killing the six remaining guards between him and the alarmed Katuunko, who, despite the armed intrusion, refused to be intimidated by an assassin. Taking a repulsorpod to the level of Katuunko's throne, Opress jumped onto the King's podium and slashed at the King, who drew his ceremonial sword in a valiant but fruitless attempt to defend himself. Opress easily severed Katuunko's ceremonial sword, and when the Toydarian attempted to fly out of range, the Nightbrother slammed him against a wall into unconsciousness. Before he could carry Katuunko back to the solar sailer and escape from Toydaria, Opress was stopped by the arrival of Jedi Generals Kenobi and Skywalker, who, at the behest of the Jedi Council, were tracking down the Separatist assassin behind the murders of Halsey and Knox on Devaron. With the inert Katuunko slung over his shoulder , Opress battled with Kenobi and Skywalker simultaneously atop the repulsorpods in a short but fierce duel. At the instant that Katuunko regained consciousness and broke free from the distracted Opress's grip, Skywalker and Kenobi jumped onto Opress, tackling him and attempting to pin him down. In his aggression, Opress Force-choked Katuunko to death and then threw Skywalker and Kenobi off himself and onto an adjacent repulsorpod, with only Skywalker maintaining a grip on the platform. Opress crushed Skywalker's handhold beneath his boot and quickly used his lightsaber to disable the repulsorpod, which fell directly onto the two winded Jedi. Not wasting any time, Opress grabbed Katuunko's body and dragged it onto the solar sailer. Before lifting off from the palace, Opress reached out with a massive Force-push to send Skywalker's and Kenobi's ship off the landing platform to its destruction. Skywalker and Kenobi arrived too late to prevent Opress from escaping from Toydaria with Katuunko's body, and with their shuttle gone, they were forced to borrow Katuunko's personal Peregrine-class star yacht,Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Incredible Vehicles the Thief's Eye, to pursue Opress's solar sailer. In the meantime, Opress brought Katuunko's corpse to Dooku, who had arrived in orbit of Toydaria aboard a ''Providence''-class carrier/destroyer. Receiving Opress on the bridge of his destroyer, Dooku was not pleased with his apprentice's performance, for the Nightbrother had killed Katuunko in his haste to escape from the Jedi. Despite Opress's pleas for forgiveness, Dooku subjected his apprentice to a bout of Sith lightning for his disobedience , stopped only by the arrival of a newcomer on the destroyer's bridge: Asajj Ventress, who had deemed it time to execute her revenge on Dooku. Although Dooku told Opress that he could make amends for his mistake by killing Ventress, the Nightsister used Talzin's magic to turn Opress against his Master. Ventress touched finger to Opress's forehead, recalling his memory of his allegiance to her and activating the spell that ensured his loyalty to the Nightsisters. Remembering his indoctrinated loyalty to Ventress, Opress helped her challenge Dooku, and a lightsaber duel ensued. Opress initially provided support for Ventress, brutishly slashing at his former Master while Ventress dueled him. When Ventress was knocked aside, Opress took over, relentlessly battering away at Dooku's defenses. He won a brief advantage over the Sith Lord by disarming him and knocking him against a wall. Opress's victory was short-lived, as the disarmed Dooku recovered in time to evade his advances and repelled him with Force lightning, for which the Nightbrother had no defense . Regaining his lightsaber, Dooku focused on dueling Ventress while simultaneously countering Opress's attacks with more Force lightning. Three times Opress attempted to kill Dooku while his former Master was locked in combat with the Nightsister, only to be swiftly thwarted each time by the Sith Lord's Sith lightning assaults. Furthermore, Ventress remained unsympathetic to Opress's lack of success, refusing to let the Nightbrother's weakness be her downfall. At that moment, Opress's fury surpassed his loyalty to Ventress, and he broke free of her spell of allegiance. His service to Ventress was replaced only with hatred for both her and his former Master. Beaten and wounded but free from Ventress's influence, Opress retaliated against both Ventress and Dooku, grabbing his adversaries in a powerful Force choke and telekinetically throwing both of them against an adjacent wall. In an ensuing three-way duel, Opress directed overpowering lightsaber strikes at his opponents, knocking them against another wall. To counter Opress's brute force, Ventress and Dooku teamed up, with the Nightsister and Sith Lord using telekinesis and Sith lightning, respectively, in concert to hurtle the Nightbrother against the door to the bridge. While Opress was catching his breath, Dooku fled from the bridge via an escape hatch, and Ventress pursued him without the aid of her one-time Nightbrother servant. With his hefty suit of armor, Opress was too large to fit through the hatch, and the arrival of Skywalker and Kenobi interrupted him just as he was about to cut through the hatch with his lightsaber. Bellowing a battle cry, Opress turned his focus to the two Jedi, and their proceeding duel took them through the dreadnaught's hallways. At one point, Skywalker forced a B1 battle droid bystander in Opress's direction, but the Nightbrother simply threw the droid aside and relentlessly continued their duel. Locked in a heated duel, Opress, Skywalker, and Kenobi eventually reached the destroyer's hangar (by which time Savage had sustained a minor injury in the form of losing one of his horns). There, all of the assembled battle droid troops turned on Opress on Dooku's orders, forcing Opress to focus on the droids instead of Skywalker and Kenobi . By this time, the weary Nightbrother had no interest in conquest, only escape. Surrounded and assaulted from all sides by nearly twenty B1 battle droids, B2 super battle droids, and shielded droidekas, Opress released a massive Force pulse against his droid attackers, eliminating all of them and knocking Skywalker and Kenobi aside. With his adversaries momentarily pushed back, Opress took the opportunity to escape from Dooku's dreadnaught, taking his former Master's solar sailer back to Dathomir. Notes & References External Link See Also Category:Dark Acolyte Category:Assassins